Name: Outskirts: feminisms along the edge Publisher: The University of Western Australia, Women's
Studies Audience: Academic Format: Magazine/Journal Subject: Women's issues/gender studies Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2008 The University of Western Australia,
Women's Studies ISSN:0445-0445

Issue:

Date: Nov, 2008 Source Volume: 19

Product:

Product Code: 9914360 Sales Meetings

Geographic:

Geographic Scope: Australia Geographic Code: 8AUST Australia

Accession Number:

204854345

Full Text:

The University of Western Australia 9-11 July 2008

At the end of her report from the 2006 Australian Women's
Studies Association conference (before AWSA with a G came into being),
Kim Toffoletti looked forward to the next gathering taking place under
the 'sunny skies' of Western Australia. Well as it turned out,
her climatic expectations might not have been fully met (although to be
fair there was intermittent sun between the odd shower), but there was
much else to appreciate at Vision, Memory, Spectacle in Perth. Not least
of which was the launch of over-achiever Kim's book--but more of
that later. And anyway, for those of us who live in the tropics,
it's fun to ferret out coats and jumpers which rarely get an
outing.

The conference took place in the extremely sleek and stylish
University Club at UWA, overlooking Matilda Bay. Once I had got over the
shock of being in a university building that had fully functioning (and
beautifully tiled) bathrooms, comfortable chairs and decent coffee, I
settled in for three days of good company and deep thinking. At
somewhere between 50-60 papers, this conference was smaller than AWSA in
Melbourne 2006; probably due to the challenges of convincing those on
the east coast to head west. I was worried that smaller numbers might
diminish the conference experience but found that the quality of the
papers, beautiful location and good hospitality meant that this was an
engaging event with an intimate (but not limited) feel.

Indeed, for me, the sign of a good conference is when I face
dilemmas in deciding which concurrent session to go to and that was
certainly the case here. The papers offered were varied and diverse.
Conference convenor Alison Bartlett organised parallel sessions around a
variety of themes, which drew on its overarching focus of vision, memory
and spectacle. Thus, there were sessions on 'feminist
visions'; 'remembering feminisms', 'corporeal
memory' and a panel on 'feminism in the museum?' and
'spectacles of war'. I attended a number of sessions where
post-presentation questions and discussion were full of energy, debate
and delight as a result of some skillful combining of compatible papers.
Media and Maternity on the first afternoon was a stand-out for me in
this regard; Christy Parker, Margie Ripper and JaneMaree Maher each
presented thoughtful and engaging papers about motherhood, media
representation and choice that flowed on from each other beautifully,
contained many useful synergies and elicited lively discussion
afterwards. Just love it when that happens. The feminist analyses of
'therapeutic' responses to child sexual abuse in Therapeutic
Visions was another favourite of mine. Georgia Ovendon explored the psy
discourses which diagnose sexually abused women as
'dysfunctional'. This was effectively followed by Abigail
Bray's argument about how the political--child sexual abuse--is
pathologised in neo-liberal, post-feminist culture--focusing in
particular on the self-help signifier of the 'inner child'.
Jonathon Marshall's discussion of the 'spectacle' of
medicalised hysteria rounded off a very satisfying session.

Participants looking for artistic stimulation were particularly
well served at Vision, Memory, Spectacle. Two art exhibitions were held
in conjunction with the conference; one showcasing the beautiful
photographs of Panizza Allmark and another from printmaker Laurel
Nannup. In addition to these riches, keynote speaker Felicity Collins
introduced a really valuable evening of short feminist films. The
conference was concluded with feminist theatre from Edith Cowan
University locals Julie Robson and Dawn Albinger. Another additional
event to the regular conference program was the launch of Kim
Toffoletti's book, Cyborgs and Barbie Dolls: Feminism, Popular
Culture and the Posthuman Body, introduced by the always-entertaining
JaneMaree Maher. The Western Australian wine served was rather good too
I recall. Actually--and this is an issue of great importance to me so
forgive my shallow nature--all through the conference, the University
Club fed and watered us extremely well--even the vegetarians like me.

This was also a conference with strong contributions from eminent
keynote speakers; Sasha Roseneil, Pat Dudgeon and Felicity Collins.
Sasha Roseneil --extremely recently arrived from the UK--overcame the
challenge of jet-lag to provide the opening plenary--a pretty high
pressure gig. I was completely engrossed by her personal and analytical
accounts of the herstory of the Greenham Common women's peace camps
(just 10 miles from where I grew up) and their recent recognition by
English Heritage as sites of historical and archeaological significance.
As a local woman--originally from the Bardi people in the Kimberley--Pat
Dudgeon didn't have to contend with changing time zones. A natural
story teller, she soon ditched the constraints of powerpoint, to offer
her insights and anecdotes about Aboriginal women's identity and
sexuality; drawing on her doctoral research and family experiences. In
her plenary session, Felicity Collins presented 'Shock, boredom and
iconography of sexual violence in frontier films'--a powerful
session which left the audience speechless.

The AWGSA AGM, which occupied our final lunch break, was deftly and
expertly managed by Maryanne Dever and Marg Henderson. In the interests
of supporting feminist research, it was decided that AWGSA will
establish a Postgraduate Prize for a feminist dissertation. The first
award will be made at the next biennial AWGSA conference in 2010. Other
business of note was the interest expressed by the Canadian Women's
Studies Association in joining forces to organise a conference on
feminist pedagogy.

Finally, thanks again to conference convenor Alison Bartlett for a
job really well done. And good luck to the South Australian contingent
who bravely put up their hands to host AWGSA 2010 in Adelaide. Sounds
like another chance to pack my coat.